Visiting French-speaking Switzerland
This year, the ITF won’t “just” be held in French-speaking Switzerland: It’ll take place on the campus of the EPFL, one of the country’s hubs of collaboration between business and academia. It’s the birthplace of innovations for which Switzerland’s economy is known around the world. We are delighted to welcome State Secretary Helene Budliger Artieda, Martin Strehl, CEO of Eversys, and Jean-Jacques de Dardel, President of Campus Unlimitrust to our line-up: They will be joining you to explore the future of the export sector.
Hosting the forum in French-speaking Switzerland offers companies from outside the region in particular the chance to engage in more intense dialogue beyond the linguistic border. When it comes to doing business abroad, it is crucial that businesspeople with different native languages support each other and seek out solutions together. Working together also allows companies to derive greater benefit from the Swissness bonus while simultaneously making the term their own. I’m seeing companies tapping into this more and more.
Plus, SMEs generally start by expanding to neighboring countries, no matter what language region they’re from. In other words, if a Swiss-German company is interested in the French or Italian market, or a company from Ticino or Valais is planning to enter the German-speaking market, attending the forum is a particularly good idea. It gives them the perfect opportunity to see first-hand the opportunities and challenges facing them in neighboring nations.
How the AWF decided on this year’s topic
Our program is shaped by the topic of the ITF. We want to respond to the most pressing questions currently occupying Swiss SMEs engaged in export, provide inspiration, showcase experts’ opinions and encourage people to share experiences. The topic “Realigning trade flows: chaos or opportunity” does not just encompass challenges related to the supply chain. It is about so much more besides, from shortages and the recycling of raw materials, pricing pressure and inflation, through to increases in energy prices and transportation costs, alternative markets that have suddenly come into focus and economic realignment in many traditional sales markets.
A tried-and-true event in an innovative format
A large event for small and medium-sized companies is not a contradiction in terms – quite the opposite, in fact. For representatives of SMEs, in particular, who don’t have an expert to cover all these issues, the Aussenwirtschaftsforum is a unique, time-efficient opportunity to learn about the latest trends and opportunities over the course of one single day.
The scale of the AWF is striking: We have welcomed around 2,800 participants since 2016, with its format and concept changing time and again. One highlight, incidentally, was when Bastian Baker took to the stage in 2016, also in Lausanne. This saw the SME representatives turn from calm businesspeople into excited fans in a matter of seconds.
Martin Strehl, CEO of Eversys, an innovative coffee-machine maker with sites in German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland will showcase his success story in 2023. In addition, we will take a deeper look at current topics within four break-out sessions: developments in the Chinese market, sustainability and its importance in international business, infrastructure projects in peripheral markets, and inflation and energy strategy in Switzerland. Of the four, I would like to highlight the infrastructure session, in particular: After all, Switzerland Global Enterprise has been devoting a great deal of focus to this sector for a while now. It is of interest for suppliers from various industries, not just traditional infrastructure firms.
Networking as a crucial aspect
The forum is the ideal platform for dialogue among like-minded people. It’s particularly well-suited for representatives of small firms who don't have that many peers at their own organization with whom they can talk about their wins and minor concerns.
This year, the Piazza am Forum offers the perfect place to engage in friendly chats and stimulating discussions with other businesspeople and experts. On the Piazza, we’ll also be suggesting ways in which you can combat the most common challenges, before you have the chance to expand on them in direct discussions with our country experts and local employees from Swiss Business Hubs around the world. It goes without saying that our partners will also be in attendance: economiesuisse, Swissmem, SERV, cantonal and bilateral chambers of industry and commerce and many other organizations to assist internationally active SMEs. As a result, Swiss companies can count on support across every stage of the export business. One-to-one discussions are important: At the end of the day, there are very few instances where every company can blindly apply a generalized solution. That said, learning from others can also provide support – and that’s exactly the opportunity that the Aussenwirtschaftsforum offers Swiss exporters each year. I look forward to seeing you there.
